When I went to the Lindt Chocolate Cafe, the coconut flavour was my favourite so I thought I would try coconut first. I have to admit that I did a LOT of reading and research when I was preparing myself to make them and it did get a bit confusing. There are many awesome pro-cooking blogs out there that give tedious step-by-step instructions and dozens of warnings that these are going to be super difficult to make. After reading a few different approaches, I kind of amalgamated what I thought to be the most important points and ended up following Tartlettes basic recipe for the base.
The taste and texture was awesome. If you haven't tried one, try one ASAP...a good macaron is crunchy on the outside and really chewy on the inside, definitely not the texture I was expecting when I first bit into one. The thing I like about macarons, is that they are a really sweet treat so you can't eat a lot at one time (trust me, been there...felt really sick afterwards!) A few in a little box make a great gift for a friend and they look really cool sitting together on a plate for morning or afternoon tea.
Next up, I want to try some coloured versions..maybe some green pistachio ones?
Apparently mastering the "feet" on the bottom edges of the macaron can be a little difficult. Mine aren't perfect and maybe it was just beginners luck, but I got feet! I need to work out why the tops of my macarons didn't end up as flat and smooth as they are supposed to be...mine had little pointed tops that didn't flatten out. I think I read somewhere that may be due to slight undermixing the mixture?
I want to make a couple more batches and try and iron out the kinks, and then I'll share my "how to" with you. My aim is to try and come up with a base recipe that you can add your own colours/flavours to that is easy to follow and (hopefully) fool proof. Wish me luck again!
5 comments:
Perfection in a biscuit! I just tasted some of these the other day when my friend received a box for her birthday in very pretty shades of lilac,purple and yellow. ~They looked great and tasted even better..bet yours do too. Thanks for sharing.
They look really good - a definite success.
Yes, try the pistachio next time. I love that.
well done - they look great! It's a great feeling to have mastered them - especially after the horror stories you can find about these deceptive little biscuits!
Oh it was like reading about my macaron making! I too read and read and read about Macarons and went with Tartlette's version (did you read her article 'Demystifying Macarons'?
I decided to go with a plain version with chocolate ganache which was yummy but having tried some from the Lindt Cafe, I definately want to try flavoured and coloured versions. In fact on trying them I am pretty sure that they only flavour the centre filling ie. passionfruit (which was my fav) and strawberry, the biscuit seemed to be only coloured.
I also think I undermixed mine, I had little peaks as well, althought the ones that I rested for a while before cooking seemed better. I think my undermixing was because I after reading all the warnings and problems I was super worried about overmixing!
Well done and congrats, I did a little dance when I saw my 'feet' form in the oven - it is certainly a baking accomplishment!
Wow! They look great for your first attempt! I'll be watching for more!
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